


That's What You Get For Waking Up in Vegas

by princess_schez



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-27
Updated: 2012-08-27
Packaged: 2017-11-13 01:17:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/497796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princess_schez/pseuds/princess_schez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helping out one of their father's old friends, Sam and Dean travel to Las Vegas to investigate a reported haunted casino. Written for the <a href="http://50states-spn.livejournal.com/profile"><img class="i-ljuser-userhead"/></a><a class="i-ljuser-username" href="http://50states-spn.livejournal.com/"><b>50states_spn</b></a> community challenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in between "Mommy Dearest” and "The Man Who Would Be King.” Since there is no clearly defined timeline between those two episodes (as listed by [](http://hells-half-acre.livejournal.com/profile)[**hells_half_acre**](http://hells-half-acre.livejournal.com/)'s incredible timeline [here](http://hells-half-acre.livejournal.com/234487.html)), I decided to place this near Sam's birthday. Beta'd by the talented [](http://sendintheklowns.livejournal.com/profile)[**sendintheklowns**](http://sendintheklowns.livejournal.com/) and [](http://lisa725.livejournal.com/profile)[**lisa725**](http://lisa725.livejournal.com/). Title is from the song, "Waking Up in Vegas" by Katy Perry. Banner by me.

[ ](http://s429.photobucket.com/albums/qq20/PrincessSchez/Supernatural/Other%20Supernatural%20stuff/?action=view&current=ThatsWhatYouGet.png)

  
_Part 1_

The drive was boring. But then, long car trips, traveling from place to place — often times cross-country — was always the boring part of their job. And now, Sam was having a hard time keeping the boredom at bay. He could only look out at the same desert landscape for so long, and it didn’t help that Dean had been listening to the same couple of cassettes since leaving the California coast hours ago. Sam had insisted they step away from hunting, even for just a day, to clear their heads from the burden of learning there was a possibility that their angel friend was secretly helping their enemy.

It had been a lot for Dean to absorb. Hell, it had been hard for either of them to believe. But it seemed to be hitting Dean the hardest. After all, Cas had been the one who had pulled him out of Hell.

Sam sighed, watching as the mountains and various cacti whizzed by them in a blur. They rode in silence. Dean was being unusually quiet and not like himself — that is, until his cell phone rang, cutting through the sounds of Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption” guitar rift on the speakers.

It had been a pretty interesting call from what Sam could hear of the one-sided conversation. Their father was mentioned, and Dean conducted the usual inquisition they put people who called them out of the blue through. Dean’s facial expressions went from disbelief to surprise before going back to the almost-scowl he’d been wearing lately.

When Dean finally closed his phone, Sam was dying to know who called, but his brother only cleared his throat, driving on for a few minutes, during which Sam guessed his brother was still processing the strange call.

"So,” Dean said, finally breaking the agonizing silence. “Supposedly one of Dad's old friend's, Zach McLachlan, called and asked if we could come down to Vegas for the weekend and investigate a reported haunted hotel room." The scowl on his face slowly turned into a grin, the first of any smile Sam had seen on his brother’s face in a while. "Since we're not doing anything at the moment, saving the world-wise, I told 'em we could come over and check the place out."

Sam wasn’t sure what to say. He was surprised that someone claiming to know their dad had called, and he was surprised they hadn’t heard about him before. But then, there was still a lot about their dad they didn’t know.

Dean quickly shot a look at his brother, who wasn't giving him the reaction he'd expected. He figured Sam would be just as excited as he was over the prospect of finally having a case pop up in Sin City. It was something to, at least, distract them for the moment.

"What?" he asked, turning his attention back to driving. "This is what we've been looking for, to investigate something in Vegas for a change and not some dinky-ass little town!"

"Well, how much time will we actually get to spend there if we're investigating?" Sam asked, amazed at how Dean actually seemed excited — even … dare he think it … happy — for a change. It beat moody, depressed Dean any day, and Sam was glad for that.

"Trust me; we'll have plenty of time. It's just a simple little ghosty problem," Dean replied. "Salt and burn the bones, and we'll have the rest of the weekend to kick back and relax. Besides, how often do we get to do something exciting? And considering your birthday is coming up …."

Sam just nodded as images of how wrong this weekend could turn out played in his head. Dean would totally be in his element at the party capital of the world; he could just see it now. Sam couldn’t help but smirk at the thought of this, and Dean noticed.

"What?"

"Nothing," Sam lied. "So, um, what do we know so far about the case? And I didn’t know Dad had any friends left — especially ones that sound as if they were still on speaking terms with him."

"Dad was full of surprises, I guess. And the job seems to be pretty straightforward in that a woman jumped from the fourteenth floor at the Luxor casino, and she's been haunting it ever since."

“Anything else we should know?”

“Just that the girl keeps appearing in the fourteenth floor hallway, and more specifically, near the room in question. It must be bad for business ‘cause they can’t seem to rent anything on that floor without guests leaving in the middle of the night,” Dean replied.

Sam nodded his head as he leaned back into the well-worn seat of the Impala, feeling how good it was to just have a simple case to look forward to. No demon-helping angels or supposedly-dead rulers of Hell to deal with. Just a simple ghost case to get lost in.

-0-

Having just passed through the tiny town of Baker, California, home of the world’s largest thermometer, it was Dean who commented on it first.

“Looks rather phallic if you ask me.” He chuckled quietly to himself. “Though, I’ve been told mine is bigger.”

Sam just closed his eyes. Though it was nice to hear Dean make a joke, he just wished he could tune out his brother’s 12-year-old sense of humor.

After another 30 minutes, they were finally in the Promised Land, having crossed over the state line. The sun was just starting to set behind the mountains, leaving trails of dark crimson streaks across the sky.

Off in the distance, both brothers could see the tiny pinprick lights of Las Vegas shining over the mountain range like a welcome beacon. Sam wanted to cheer. They would be reaching civilization soon, and he could finally get out of this car and straighten out his legs, which were beyond cramped. He felt like an intricately folded origami and wondered how long it would take before he regained feeling in them.

Before long, they passed by the famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. Dean couldn’t keep the smile off his face now. He was a like a kid at Disneyland. Even Sam had to admit that this place looked pretty awesome.

Dean let out a low whistle. “Look at this place, Sammy. This is freaking cool!”

“Sure is.”

“You know, when you were off at Stanford doing the whole geek-boy college thing, Dad and I came here to help some hot show-girl chick with a poltergeist problem. Afterwards, it was one of the best weekends of my life.”

“Lemme guess, you gave her the ol’ Dean Winchester weekend special?” Sam asked, trying to keep the smirk off his face and not caring that he was indulging his brother’s immature humor.

“Bite your tongue; you say that like it’s a bad thing. I’ll have you know …”

“Digressing now,” Sam interrupted, clearing his throat and trying to keep any unwanted mental images from entering his head. That was the last thing he needed and the last thing he thought of before Dean slammed on the breaks and cursed loudly.

“Aw, c’mon! I had the right of way, you douche!” Dean shook his fist and a certain finger at a cab driver who’d deliberately cut him off.

"That's the thing with big cities, traffic is always a nightmare," Sam commented. "And, by the looks of things, there's roadwork up ahead too." He pointed to a spot where yellow flashing lights and orange cones indicated impending road construction.

"Damn it," Dean muttered darkly.

-0-

They arrived at the Luxor resort later than they wanted, owing to the fact that even just the short drive they had to reach it turned out longer due to traffic, tourists jaywalking, and road construction.

"If there’s one thing I hate about this place," Dean said, throwing the demon-killing knife into the trunk and locking the Impala's doors, "it’s that traffic is a nightmare."

"Hard to imagine, but it's actually worse in L.A. than it is here."

"Yeah, well, it still blows. At least Vegas has other aspects that more than make up for it. I mean, how many other places can you think of where they have a giant Sphinx replica?” Dean looked at his brother with a smile on his face, indicating the large human head set upon the body of the lion. “Where else can you jump from Egypt to Paris in under 10 minutes?”

“True.”

The Egyptian theme outside the Luxor carried over heavily in the inside, too. Every space, nook and cranny their eyes fell upon was themed. Even the cocktail waitresses’ uniforms — if that’s what they could even be called — fit in with the decor.

Sam was going to comment on this to his brother, but Dean was already cattle-driving him by the arm over to the lobby where a busty receptionist was busy typing something and balancing a phone in the crook of her neck.

“Excuse me, miss?” Dean asked. She looked up and smiled widely when she saw them, but her eyes were mainly focused on the elder brother.

“Hello! Are you staying at the hotel?” she asked pleasantly, hanging up the phone.

“Of course,” Dean began. “My brother and I are in town for the weekend on work-related business.” Sam wasn’t sure whether Dean was intentionally flirting or if the receptionist was doing all the work, but Sam couldn’t help but mentally rolling his eyes — silently coming to the conclusion that he just couldn’t take Dean — the walking chick magnet — anywhere. Clearing his throat, he broke the eye contact between the receptionist and his brother. This had to end; there were more important matters afoot.

“This must be your brother,” she said, giving Sam a very meaningful smile, to which he nodded his head ever so slightly.

“Um, Dean, we really should be looking for our friend,” he added with hidden emphasis on the word ‘friend.’ Dean got the hint and turned his attention back to the girl, eyeing the nametag on her ample chest.

“You’re right. Well, it was nice talking to you, Nicole, but we’re trying to find our friend, Zach McLachlan. He said he worked here. He knew our dad, and we’re trying to catch up for old time’s sake.”

Dean had a smile plastered across his face. He was a pro at getting women to do what he wanted, whether for personal gain or not.

“Sure thing! I’ll just go grab him real fast. Nice talking to you, Dean.” Hurriedly she scribbled something onto a piece of paper and slipped it into his hand, winking coquettishly before leaving to grab Zach for them. Sam had a sneaking suspicion he knew what was written on that paper.

Dean had a particular gift when it came to the ladies, considering they weren’t in this casino more than a few minutes, and his brother already had a hook-up waiting to happen. Whether it was intention on Dean’s part or not, but five minutes after meeting one, he could have them ready to take their clothes off in a heartbeat. This had to be some kind of a record, even for Dean.

Though, whether his brother actually followed through was another. Since his imploded relationship with Lisa, Dean hadn’t even so much as shown interest in another woman. Sam wasn’t sure if he was just going through the motions for the sake of the case right now or not.

As the girl left and an older man appeared, Sam noticed that his brother slipped the paper inside his pants pocket.

-0-

"I'm glad you guys could make it on such short notice," Zach greeted, the moment he saw Sam and Dean standing the lobby.

Zach McLachlan was in his 50s with tanned skin, blue eyes, and dark brown hair streaked with grey. He seemed generally friendly as he shook the brothers' hands.

"We're glad we could make it, too," Sam replied, as Zach called over to a woman that he was taking his break and then led the boys into the vacant employee break room for privacy.

"So how exactly did you know our dad?" Dean asked, taking a seat at a small, circular table. Dean wasn’t much of one for preamble, especially when it came to people claiming to know their dad. One could never be too careful.

"He saved my butt on a few occasions," replied Zach with a grin. "I was a complete skeptic, didn't believe a thing about the paranormal until weird, unexplainable stuff started happening to me. John came to town and solved my demon problems. We had a few beers, did the whole guy bonding thing, stuff like that. The rest is, as they say, history.”

To confirm his statement, he pulled out a rumpled piece of paper from his wallet and handed it to Dean for the brothers to see. It was a picture of John Winchester standing in front of the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Dean flipped the picture over, and scribbled on the back was their dad’s cell number as well as Dean’s.

Dean looked over the picture for a moment, thinking over what Zach had told him. Their dad was not the type to ‘bond’ with other people. But then again, he did have a son with a nurse neither brother had known anything about until actually meeting him a few years ago, or at least the ghoul version of him, so anything was possible with John.

While the pic of their father was interesting, what caught Sam’s attention was a glimpse of something shiny and dark nestled alongside a picture of a young woman with dark, wavy hair and striking eyes. Zach saw Sam looking at it and pulled it out. It was a lock of brunette hair tied together with black ribbon.

“My daughter’s,” he said with a hint of wistfulness in his voice. “She’s all grown up now and has her own family on the other side of the country. I keep this as a reminder of her. It makes me feel close to her.”

Dean shot a look at his brother before turning back to Zach, photo in hand.

“So what seems to be the problem now?” Dean inquired. “You mentioned something on the phone about a ghost haunting one of the upper floors.”

“I must be attractive to ghosts or something, because almost as soon as I started working here a few months ago, I felt something weird."

"Like what?" Dean asked.

"I was up on the fourteenth floor — I had left something up in room 1408 — when an awful cold spot seemed to follow me around. I had a sinking feeling, and having already dealt with prior supernatural experiences, I realized it was a ghost. I only saw her out of my peripheral vision, but I could definitely make her out to be a woman."

"Could you make anything else out on her? Any kind of identifying features?" inquired Sam.

Zach's face scrunched up as he tried to remember. “Kinda. Like I said, I only saw her out of my peripheral vision; but from what I could see, she was a bloody mess. She did have dark hair and kind of a petite frame.”

“Any chance you might know her name?”

“No. I did try asking around, but the only info I could get was that she jumped around the time I started here. I just don’t wanna keep bringing it up, as I'm afraid I’ll lose my job if the upper management thinks I’m nuts. So if you guys could keep it quiet, I would appreciate that.”

“Trust me, it’s not a problem,” Dean replied.

“I can take you guys up to the room, but then I’ll have to leave and head back to work. And thankfully, the room’s vacant and the surrounding ones are, too, so nobody should disturb your investigation.”

-0-

“Jumping off the fourteenth floor … damn, I can think of better ways to go,” Dean muttered to himself, looking over the handrail and taking in the sense of just how far a drop it was. Not that Dean was afraid of heights, but the almost tiered layout of the floors below gave him a slight feeling of vertigo, so he gripped the handrail tighter than he needed to. He hoped Sammy would be able to do his geek bit and get the info they needed quickly.

Backing away, he opened the room door using the card key Zach gave him, and then he pulled out his EMF meter with his free hand as he closed the door, not wanting the other guests to see what he was doing. Squinting in the darkness, Dean turned on a small lamp by the bed and looked around, immediately setting out to do an EMF sweep. The detector hummed and groaned loudly almost as soon as he turned it on. Checking to make sure nothing electronic hindered the reading, Dean smiled. There was definitely something supernatural here. The rhythmic noise was like music to his ears, but the goose bumps on his arms signified something else. Dean looked up.

Standing just a few feet from him was the form of a transparent young woman, arms outstretched, blood dripping from her head and the corners of her mouth. A low gurgle escaped from her mouth as she flicked in and out from sight, her dark hazel eyes focusing on Dean.

Dean watched her for a second before he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and everything went black.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

_Part 2_  
  
Inside the coffee shop, Sam pulled up several search engines on his laptop, making efficient use of the hotel’s free Wi-Fi service as a friendly waiter brought over a fresh cup of hot tea. Looking at his watch, Sam figured Dean would’ve been down by now seeing as he was just doing a quick EMF sweep in a small room.  
  
A part of him wondered if Dean was busy chatting up another busty chick in the process. If this had even been just a few years ago, it would’ve been a possibility, but Dean was different now.  
  
Instead of worrying about his brother at the moment, he decided to just enjoy the few moments of quiet time. He hadn’t gotten much of that lately, not since his soul was reinserted. Dean had been watching him like a hawk, and it had gotten kind of annoying, but Sam didn’t say anything. He knew his brother was just worried and over-protective, but he loved him for it.  
  
He tried searching for any info they could use, but since they didn’t have a name, it made the search a little bit harder. Sam didn’t mind the challenge. There had been times in the past he’d had less to go on, and he’d usually found what he was looking for, even if it took a great deal of time.   
  
Strangely, there hadn’t been much info on the incident; it seemed the hotel had tried to keep it pretty hush-hush for the sake of business, as any such reports were nearly impossible to find and none mentioned the hotel directly. It bothered Sam that a murderer got away clean while the victim simply faded into a macabre urban legend.  
  
Sighing, Sam closed that webpage and was about to turn his laptop off and see what Dean was up to when a link caught his attention. Clicking it, it took him to a site listing different urban legends by state. Clicking up the section entitled “Nevada’s strange and spooky,” a small smile crept onto his face before quickly changing into a frown.  
  
The article mentioned a grad student who had turned to prostitution as a way to pay her way through med school and died under mysterious circumstances in an unnamed Vegas casino a few months ago. The woman’s body had been cremated and resided with her family in Henderson. There was a picture of her beside the article. Sam stared at the picture for a few moments, unsure whether his eyes were playing tricks on him as the image of the dead girl’s haunting eyes stared back at him. That was the exact same picture Zach had in his wallet. A sinking feeling settled inside Sam’s stomach.  
  
Closing the laptop, he hastily left a few bucks on the table to pay for his drink and tip before hurrying out of the coffee shop. His body tensed slightly, that all-too-familiar feeling of dread filling him as he silently prayed that Dean was okay. He tried calling Dean’s phone, but it just went to voicemail.  
  
-0-  
  
Reaching for the spare key card in his pocket, Sam quickly looked around the vacant hallway, making sure the coast was clear of any people. It was eerie how quiet things were up here, much t*o so for a bustling casino. The loud din of the electronic machines and the whooping and hollering of people below seemed unnaturally hushed. The air around him gave off a sort of electrical charge, his arm becoming goose bumped as he opened the room. His eyes were met with total darkness as he breathed in the stench of sulfur.   
  
His anxiety went into overdrive.  
  
Feeling around for a light switch, he flipped it up and saw Dean sitting on a chair, hands tied behind his back and looking pissed. A large gag was placed around his mouth. Setting the laptop on the nightstand, he hurried over and removed the gag.  
  
“Dean! What happened?”  
  
“Zach’s what happened!” Dean yelled.  
  
“It’s not Zach, or at least, it hasn’t been in a while. I’m borrowing his meat for the time being.”  
  
Sam turned around to see Zach McLachlan walking toward them, his once blue eyes now solid black. His smile grew wider as he snapped his fingers and the door to the room closed and locked them inside.  
  
“Your asses are so mine,” the demon said with a grin.  
  
“What? Did we kill your mommy or daddy or something?” Dean spat angrily as Sam made to go after the demon. But he was prepared, and with the wave of his hand, Sam went flying into the wall, arms and legs pinned.  
  
“Seems to be a bit of a habit for your brother, going sailing into things,” Zach commented to Dean. “Must get pretty tiresome after a while.”  
  
“Go to Hell!” Dean exclaimed.  
  
Zach pursed his lips together before leaning close to Dean and slapping him hard across the face. “No thanks. I’ve been there already. Finally crawled out.”  
  
  
"What do you want with us?” Sam growled. His head throbbed something awful as his eyes shifted in and out of focus, but he remained conscious. Zach left Dean and walked over to where Sam lay, smiling down at him.  
  
The demon chuckled as he patted Sam on the face. So far, Zach was only watching Sam, and Dean hoped his brother could occupy the dick just a little longer so he could finish loosening his restraints and get free.  
  
“The photo in your wallet was a trick!” Sam said, trying to keep his voice from cracking. “We know you had something to do with it. I saw the photo in your wallet.”  
  
“It wasn’t all a trick, Sammy boy. Killing the prostitute was very much real. All I had to do was just get the whore drunk and off the side of the floor she went,” he said with a vicious smirk and a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.  
  
“So killing the girl was just to get us down here?” Sam asked, repulsed at the thought. Silently he hoped Dean was making good progress on his bonds.  
  
“Very good, young grasshopper. But really, it was all for fun. After all, who doesn’t come to Vegas to let loose and kill a few dozen people in the process? I suppose you must not have heard about the cocktail waitress whose throat I slit three weeks ago down in Laughlin. Oops, I guess that must've slipped my mind, too. Honestly, killing people tends to do that to a demon. So many killings, so little time."   
  
The demon casually waved a hand in the air. “It’s amazing what a little PhotoShopping can get you with two solemn little pricks with a mile long list of daddy issues. And yet, you come running when someone who said they knew him comes calling. Talk about desperate.”  
  
"You just need to shut the hell up already," Dean exclaimed, throwing off the remains of his bonds and slamming the demon with a right hook that knocked him down. Coughing and spitting out blood and a couple of broken teeth, Zach looked up with his black eyes glinting, but it was enough time to break the spell holding Sam.  
  
Zach turned, his face scrunched up in agony as he tried lunging for Sam, but Dean grabbed hold and held him tightly by the shirt. The demon flinched, squirming in Dean’s grasp as the brothers recited their exorcism.  
  
“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et sect a diabolica. Ergo, draco maledicte. Ecclesiam tuam securi tibi facias libertate servire, te rogamus, audi nos.”  
  
Zach’s head flew back as black smoke came pouring out, his body writhing before going limp in Dean’s grip. Gently setting the body down onto the floor, Sam pulled himself up into a kneeling position and checked for a pulse. Fingers feeling around Zach’s throat, the younger Winchester felt nothing.  
  
Reaching into Zach’s pocket and pulling out his wallet, Dean removed the lock of hair nestled inside.  
  
Beside him, the spirit of the young woman watched as Dean lit it on fire. Her ghost vanished instantly as the last bits of hair coiled and smoldered inside the room’s kitchen sink. The smell of burning hair was pungent but not unbearable. It was the least of all the things they smelled in their work.  
  
“At least the girl now is at peace,” Sam commented, more to himself than anything.   
  
Dean nodded. “What exactly did you find out about her?”  
  
“She was a grad student who took to this life to pay her bills. Her body was cremated, and it’s residing with her family in Henderson.”  
  
“And the only reason she died was because demons decided to kill her to get us down here. But what do we do with his body?”  
  
Sam’s brow furrowed. There was no way they could get a body down 14 flights of stairs without being seen. They couldn’t even get it out to the service elevator without the risk of being caught. Their predicament was interrupted when there was a knock on the door and a female’s voice spoke up.  
  
“Sam? Dean? Are you in there?”  
  
-0-  
  
The GM was a shapely brunette woman in her mid-40s. Sam couldn’t help but notice that Dean was watching her closely out of the corner of his eyes. Whether it was because she was attractive or because Dean didn’t trust her, Sam wasn’t sure. But given how Zach had fooled them, Sam would’ve safely bet on the latter.   
  
Closing the office door, she took a seat behind her large desk, looking between the brothers, her eyes not accusing but more sympathetic.  
  
After they’d exorcised Zach, they tried to hide the body as best as they could to no avail before opening the door to the strange woman who seemed to know them. It had been a long, quiet trip down to the main floor, the brothers wondering if all those movies were true in that people were taken to a secret location in the casino to have the crap beaten out of them. Or was that only saved for card counters? The anxiety was killing them, and they were used to pretty stressful situations.  
  
But they weren’t taken to a dingy room where some big burley dude was waiting for them; instead, they followed the woman to a well-lit, plush office with the name Stacy McDonaldson painted on the door in fancy lettering.  
  
Their worst fears quickly vanished when the woman announced she was Bobby Singer’s West Coast contact. To prove her story truthful, she pulled out her cell phone and showed them Bobby’s direct line.  
  
“You boys almost gave me a heart attack!” she scolded, pocketing her phone inside her gray blazer. “I’ve been on the trail of that asshole for some time, and you two just barged right in here!”  
  
“If you were on his trail, why did you hire him to work here? Why not just kill him and be done with it?” Dean asked, not liking being reprimanded by someone he didn’t know. Sam watched them both, choosing not to say anything just yet.  
  
“I had to keep him where I could watch him closely. I had to be certain it was him. The damned demon jumped bodies on me a few times, and I lost track of him.”  
  
“You coulda just used holy water on him!” Dean was amazed that the woman who knew one of the best hunters around had let this bastard slip through her grasp.  
  
The woman raised a thin eyebrow at him, not sure how to respond to the man before her who was making it sound as if she didn’t know how to do her job.  
  
“I used holy water, but I couldn’t go around spiking drinks or splashing it on people. It would’ve looked suspicious, not to mention I probably would’ve lost my job. I need this job; you wouldn’t believe how many creatures pass through a casino on a regular basis.”  
  
“Yeah, but wasn’t the demon working here for a few months? Surely you must’ve noticed something?” Dean inquired.  
  
Stacy sighed. “At first, no. He seemed … normal. It wasn’t until just recently I noticed him acting odd. I pulled up any info I could with the help of my police friends. Nothing unusual showed up, unless you count a pastor ditching the cloth and deciding to work in Sin City as odd. But then the truly weird stuff started happening. Once I knew what body he was in, I couldn’t let on I knew. I’m so sorry a poor girl had to die.”  
  
“How did you know we were here?” Sam asked, finally speaking up.  
  
“Video surveillance. It’s one of the perks of being the general manager.” Stacy smiled mysteriously at the brothers.  
  
“I am grateful that you took care of it,” she continued. “I mean, we never publicly confirmed this place was haunted, but you know, word like this travels fast in paranormal circles.” Taking a deep breath, she added, “And to show my appreciation, you two can stay at the hotel for the next few days completely on the house. Meals, gambling, you name it.”  
  
Dean’s face lit up like Sam had never seen it before. It was like someone had declared Christmas would take place everyday for the rest of eternity.  
  
Looking at his brother, Dean said with a smirk, "Happy Birthday, Sammy!"  
  
-0-  
  
“Where in the hell are my pants?” Dean exclaimed, frantically tearing through the hotel room. He flipped over and emptied out his duffle bag, rifling through it to no avail.  
  
“Dude, stop yelling. My head friggin’ hurts!” Sam groaned, rolling over in bed to see – through groggy, bloodshot eyes – the digital clock next to him. He barely made out the numbers 7:45 A.M. He wasn’t sure why the numbers were dancing before him.  
  
But the spectacle of his brother demolishing the hotel room, cursing and yelling for his lost pants all the while wearing only a pair of boxers was not something Sam wanted to see so early in the morning. Or at all.  
  
A fresh wave of nausea washed over him as he ran a hand through his hair, stunned to find a blue sequined feather in his hand. He didn’t remember how it had gotten there, and he was sure he didn’t want to know … or remember.  
  
Some birthday this had turned out to be.  
  
-0-  
  
Taking in the spectacle of flamboyantly dressed tourists in spandex around him, Crowley sighed. It wasn’t often demons sighed. Usually things went smoothly — and as planned — for them. Usually. But then, Winchesters weren’t usually involved. The living, breathing, pains in his arse could quite literally be the second death of him.  
  
But the whole mission wasn’t a total waste. The brothers would be out of commission for a bit, considering the size of their hangovers. It would only be for a few days, but anything that slowed them up a bit was welcomed. And as long as their feathery dick friend didn’t find out what he just did to his favorite pets, all would be right with the world.  
  
It was a tough job opening Purgatory, but someone had to have the balls to do it. And he couldn’t have hunters ruining his well-thought out plan.  
  
With a smirk, he walked out of the casino, blending into the mass of people before rounding a corner and disappearing from sight.  
  
  
The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: One of the more interesting things about this fic is the fact that there are indeed rumors of the Luxor hotel being haunted by a prostitute who jumped from the 12th-14th floor. Also, legend has it there are also three construction workers who died during the building of it that are reported to haunt the location, too. I haven’t been inside it in ages; but who knows, maybe I’ll go back one day and see for myself if the rumors are true. ;-)


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